Insufficient sleep tied to post- pregnancy weight

Lack of sleep after childbirth can lead to excess weight retention after pregnancy. A majority of women experience an increase in weight after pregnancy. And many find it tough to reduce this excess weight and get back to shape. Besides diet and physical activity, there are many other factors that influence weight retention during childbirth. Sleep is believed to be one such factor. Inadequate and poor quality sleep can create problems for a lot of woman after childbirth. To assess the relationship between weight retention and sleep, American researchers studied pre and post-pregnancy weight among 940 women in eastern Massachusetts and determined sleep patterns through questionnaires and interviews. The results showed that women who got less than an average of 5 hours of sleep daily during the first 6 months after childbirth were likely to weigh at least 5 kilograms (about 11 pounds) more than their pre-pregnancy weight, one year after childbirth. Overall, 12 percent of the women reported 5 hours or less sleep per day while 30, 34, and 24 percent, respectively, received 6, 7, and 8 or more hours a day. The women who slept 5 hours or less, on average, during the first 6 months after childbirth were 2.3 times more likely than those who got 7 hours of sleep to retain at least 5 kilograms of weight at one year. This possibility was seen as increasing to three-folds after adjusting for factors such as the mother's pre-pregnancy body mass index, diet, breastfeeding pattern, physical activity level, number of children, race, age, and education level. Therefore, it is very important for women to get enough sleep to prevent excess weight retention after childbirth.